Neil stepped into a large steel room with an odd door that rolled down. He counted to 100 and then peeked around the corner. Sirria either wasn't chasing him, or had gotten lost following him. Neil could only hope it was the former. He also took stock of his surroundings. It was a mostly empty room, except for a large object in the middle covered with a tarp. Peeking under it Neil saw what looked like a Blue Rocket with twin fins on the back. The doors were all locked (Just as well, Neil didn't know how to drive) but the trunk opened up and inside was a first-aid kit.

Neil pulled that out and found the salve and gauze, the fight with Sirria had burned his hands a little as well as his face. Fourtunately, these things always came with instructions so Neil had no trouble patching himself up. While he did that, he thought of the little man he had saved. You'd think after saving someone's life they'd be greatful, but that guy had acted pretty weird, he sounded like different people. Maybe he was schitzofrenic. Or maybe they ALL act like that. I mean, he was the first one I saw that wasn't facedown in blood. Come to think of it, there's no way to tell if that even was a "he".

Once he was all set, Neil tried to figure out his next move. Sirria had been... unreceptive to the idea of staying, and Paul had to admit this place did seem to have more problems than he had thought at first, but it was still a better option than killing someone else and ending up who-knows-where. The first step had to be to find someone who'd listen, but who was there? Keith might listen, and so might Evangeline or that Takuma kid. Zero and the "Terrabeing" seemed a bit distant so they were maybes. Sirria was out of course, and probably Jak as well due to his militaristic background, not to mention that demon guy. The only ones left were Heart and the Ostrich, Zelgia III or something like that. Both of them disliked humans for some reason, but maybe they weren't unreasonable about it.

So, the first three should be either Keith, Evangeline, or Takuma. Now the only problem would be finding them. Deciding one way was as good as another (Except the way he came) Neil set off once again.

As The Terrabeing was moving toward the location of Zeros clone being deleted. He sees The virus, Zelgius out in the distance. "Copy image from memory banks....Complete. Paste (6) Zelgius."

When it is done copying his data. a pile of data surrounds Zelgius Freezing him in his spot. Watching as the data comes together to soon see that he is surrounded by himself.

"What!?"

Before the lone virus could say much more. One of his copies from the back grabs hold of one of his feathers and plucks it out of him.

"Damn it!"

Suddenly sending a quick kick to the copy behind him in response to the shock of having a feather pulled. knocking him a good distance away and falling down. As the clone picks him self up. All of them in unison speak. "You will be the first to have the honor of falling by the hands of our creator!"

"Your....Creator?"

"Correct: The Terrabeing V2.5 is the creator of these files."

Zelgius spinds around to see the Terrabeing moving slowly to the ground in front of him.

When The Terrabeing finishes listing his objectives. One of the copies jumps onto Zelgius and try's to grab a hold onto his neck. After some failed attempts the copy manages to grab hold of Zelgius neck.

"Gah! Get off!"

Zelgius. After some struggling, is able to get to copy off his back with it still latching on. Zelgius gives one big swift kick the the head making it let go and the code of it start to blur making half of its head a jumble of code similar to the Terrabeings.

Once Zelgius picks himself up he takes his battle stance.

"Why do you not want to team up Terra! We can beat the other contestant with ease if we team up!" Zelgius yells to The Terrabeing.

"Response: That is impossible. To much time lostEstimated Time of Clean up W/ teams: 10 monthsEstimated Time of Clean up W/O teams: 6 months.Virus Number 4 Deletion: Inevitable"

Zelgius cant speak directly as ostriches dont have vocal chords, and he isnt looking for a alliance. other then that, great post.

The hell? Thats....me?

Scouting for a enemy to defeat Zelgius found himself pitted against....well...himself.

About 20 ostriches were surrounding him, all trying to get a piece of him. Zelgius wasn't used to the pain. He could ussually take a dominant position as a animal with higher intellect and telekinesis to boot. But there was no mind present in these beings, as they all chanted like a hivemind: "You will be the first to have the honor of falling by the hands of our creator!"

Zelgius looked to the ground, and saw the weird glitch slowly moving. No doubt he was in charge of these hiveminded clones. "Why do I keep running into the strong ones!? I wanted to avoid Heart, Aidrail, Zero and this guy. Now I've encountered the glitch and Aidrail!"

Once Zelgius picks himself up from wrestling the clones of of him, he took a battle stance. "Ugh....I think I found something more annoying then humans...I hope your proud" Zelgius sended out a telekinetic push (think the force) to throw his clones of the roof, and jumped down to the Terrabeing, trying to kick it into submission. Nothing he did however resulted into any kind of feedback, as the glitch was just taking it.

Doesn't he feel pain? Do I do any damage at all? Appearantly he hears my telekinetic messages, but I cant read him at all! what is this? Should I run yet again? Zelgius wondered. His pride as Alpha was significantly hurt already, and brawl that'll engulf the entire city is about to start. Killing the glitch might transport them to a saver area.

Zelgius continued kicking the Terrabeing, hoping it would eventually stop functioning.

Just to make it clear. TD is going to save him so I though I would go all out on the cage and bomb thing.

"Attempt to hit The Terrabeing V2.5:Failure Counterattack: Activate"

With those words The Terrabeing shoot forward taking the virus along with him into the side of a building putting a hole though it. Once the dust has cleared it could see its target picking himself up.

"What kinda power dose this guy have with him?"

The Terrabeing rushes at the mechanical virus yet again. But this time he is able to doge at the same time get a big peck at it.

"ERROR: Data loss"

"What the!?"

Zelgius opens his mouth and sees what appears to be its data flowing out of his mouth.

"Recovering Data:...."

The separated data fly's back into it.

"Data: RecoveredCopy data:.....Creating: Cage(1) Bomb(1)"

A cage materializes around the 2 of them with a bomb attached to the center of the floor in the cage with a time of 10 minutes.

"Time of Deletion: 10 MinutesViruses Threat Level: 0"

"10 minutes? Fuck. I don't have that kind of time!"

Zelgius rushes over to try and stop the bomb from going off but sees no way to stop it.

"Damn it what kinda bo-"

Before finishing that sentence The Terrabeing fly's forward and crashes into the bars of the cage with Zelgius.

"Deletion of Bomb: ImpossibleDeletion of virus: Inevitable "

Zelgius continues to peck at it taking out data each time.

"ERROR ERROR ERROR: Loss of data"

Each time data is removed the change and the bomb ever so slightly become fuzzy. But as the data forces its way back into it the cage and the bomb go back to fully solid objects."

Keith ran down an alley, running from the band of roving drunk toads. Geeze... what's got them pissed off so much? Oh well.. I... the hell?

Keith skidded to a halt outside the entrance to a sidestreet, down which he could see a cloudy mass of numerals and letters attacking something in a cage.

Is that... Is that Zelgius? And that must be... Ah. the infamous 2.5. and a bomb. holy crap, when did C++ get C4? I'd probably help Zelgius, even though he's wary of me. thing is, I could wipe out 2.5 right now with an EMP shot, but that would hurt Zelgius...

Nine Minutes remaining.

Ok, no time to think. I'll just wing it.

Keith ran down the alley at 2.5, yelling"HEY UGLY! USERDEL -R TERRABEING2.5 !!!" Keith picked up speed, Energy gathering in the lines of metal in his sword and armor. "Stick this in your harddrive and RAM it!"Keith crashed into the terrabeing with enough force to rattle the windows of the surrounding buildings. It flew into a building, Leaving a cracked hole in the side if it.

Keith shook his head as the ball of floating code seemed to regain it's senses.

"'Virus'? Really? Is that what we are to you? Viruses? Oh well... whatever makes you happy. but aren't you a robot, sorta? Don't you need to follow the three laws? Eh, I guess floating clouds of malignant coding doesn't really count as a "robot"."Zelgius let out a squawk of fear as the bomb let out another warning. Five minutes until detonation.Keith turned around, an exasperated look on his face. "oh yeah. forgot to deal with that. I..."WHAMA wrecking ball appeared, and hit Keith, knocking him into the building opposite 2.5Humans are so fragile. 1 virus deleted. One about to be deleted. Victory is simple...

Keith emerged from the rubble of the building, His edges flickering. He turned around, looking badly bruised, and wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. As 2.5 gloated, he pulled his gun out and started charging a shot, while typing away at his keyboard. The cage surrounding Zelgius started to deteriorate into static, the bomb's counter flickering from one number to the next. 2.5 turned around and saw Keith standing there, typing away.IMPOSSIBLE. UNFORSEEN VARIABLE. VIRUS 09 FILENAME "KEITH" DANGER LEVEL UNDERSTATED. CURRENTLY VERY HIGH

Keith looked up, a grim smile on his face. "Yeah, people have died for underestimating me for lesser things. Now how about you step away from the cage, before I blow you into pieces?"I...

"OR," Keith said, continuing his sentence, "I could just delete you completely. Your choice."Behind 2.5, Zelgius's cage shimmered, then disappeared. He took off running, and Keith smiled. "Ta-ta for now, you bug riddled reject of a segfault!" Keith ran, his armor throwing off blue sparks. Soon, all that could be seen of him was the twinkling of blue sparks, then nothing as his cloaking shield took effect. 2.5 stood there, dumbfounded at his own errors and miscalculations.

Keith collapsed in a building, on a couch. He didn't know where, he didn't know who's couch it was, but it was a couch, in a home, in a place that he could crash for a while. His vision grew cloudy, as his body began the process of reviving itself through a 9-12 hour long self-induced coma. Damn... That fight... took a lot more out of me than I had hoped... I hope the owner isn't too pissy... I just need to rest- to regain my strength. People just don't get how much it takes out of you when you get slammed into a building by a wrecking ball. A FREAKING WRECKING BALL. I... too... tired for... cohe..r...ent... thou...ght...

With that thought, He collapsed into the deep void of sleep, as the world turned on around him. A shimmering blue figure stood in the rain, trying to recalculate his plans. A robotic ostrich was re-thinking things too, as it ran as far away from the blue man. Re-thinking it's views on humanity. Or, at least, one human.

Sirria saw a light at the end of the alleyway and grinned. Walking into the light again - he'd have to stop doing that or he'd make it one of these days. As he stepped out into the street proper, he noticed the light was coming from one of those unusual lanterns with no fire. He looked up at it curiously, wondering what magic powered it, and why he couldn't sense it like he could most magic. Questions for another time, he knew, and so turned to continue his wandering down the street when he suddenly sensed the approach of the psion. And it was approaching quite rapidly! Was it an attack? Sirria's hand leapt for his sword, watching as the ostrich decended from the roof of an abandoned store accross the street and approached at a rapid speed. "Halt Psion!" he called "I don't want to hurt you"

"And you won't, human" That wasn't a good sign. He attempted to raise his wards and...

PAIN. Blasting through his body, Rattling his mind. He was too slow to stop the attack on his mind and he fell to his knees clutching his head. He could feel the slight taste of fear behind the attack, so even as Zelgius jumped off his back to reach the roof behind him, he didn't feel mad. "YOU (crash)ING BIRD!" he yelled, an odd lightning strike coincidentally drowning out the middle word. Well... not too mad anyway.

Zelgius glanced back behind him and wondered if the Human would have kept his word. That one that saved him... he wasn't too bad. Certainly many hundreds of times better than.. Them. His heart raced with anger at the memories, but he fought them back. The question was, is that human that saved the exception, or the rule? In any case, perhaps he'd been too harsh with the Lycan; he'd stop and talk with him another time perhaps...

Sirria shook off the last remnants of pain from the Mindblast and stood up again. he blinked a few times and found his eyes slightly fuzzy. Upon concentrating slightly he found his magic sense dulled, the shock of the attack still rattling his mind. He scoffed. It would pass but untill it did it was damn annoying. he wandered down the street in the direction he was origionally heading when he saw the man he'd encountered before. Neil was it? He grinned, flashing teeth and called out to him "Looking to allow me to finish what I'd started little one?" Neil turned to look at him, but gave no reply. Sirria drew his sword and approached Neil, walking slowly. "Too afriad to move?" he asked, picking up speed "Too afraid to speak?!" Sirria raised his sword and charged in for a lunging thrust. "Then DIE"

Spoiler:

It's NOT neil - it's Zero, me and Q cooked this up and He'll be taking over tomorrow sometime

The kill to escape this upcomming brawl had almost been made. But it would have been his head, if not for that human. As Keith suddenly disappeared before Zelgius could hear him out, the weird code ran off too. Zelgius could have probably tracked Keith, looking for his thoughts, if a third enemy had shown up; the mercenary. But Zelgius quickly disabled him and ran away. His pride as a Alpha was gone. A survivor must be able to continue living in shame.

Zelgius was thankfull none of his opponents had decided on using the roofs as mode of transportation. He could rest on top of a high building, overlooking the city, even though he got cold in the drizzle that was starting. Zelgius activated his eye to keep track of his surroundings. The disturbance on his warmth seeker was still in the same place. Perhaps it is asleep? But why has it grown larger? With all the enemies Zelgius had encountered already he could narrow the source of the disturbance to only a few people.

Zelgius closed his eyes, and realised what was the clever thing to do. There are beings he can't defeat, but perhaps someone else would be able too, given the right intel.... Even if Zelgius disgusted it. He concentrated, searching a warped and twisted mind. He was still close to the source of the warmth disturbance.

"Aidrail! This is Zelgius. I just had a run in with the Terrabeing....whatever you do, don't engage in direct combat. He can create anything from the data he is made off. This includes clones. I had to fight off 20 of me! A human contestand named Keith saved me- Zelgius stopped for a moment. Perhaps it was better to give the human the benefit of the doubt in this one."But I didn't see what he did exactly. The Terrabeing had me locked up in a cage of codes.....That would be all"

Zelgius closed his eyes. The cloned girl was very close by, but Zelgius didn't have the strength to engage her. Zelgius sat down and tried to rest, keeping close track of where the girl was going.

Aidrail's grin disappeared. Stupid creature, making these pointless observations. He'll show him who's got the leverage here. Aidrail wasn't fond of using his powers to impress someone, or win someone over in an argument, but when you have to do it, you'd better do it right.

Aidrail! This is Zelgius. I just had a run in with the Terrabeing....whatever you do, don't engage in direct combat. He can create anything from the data he is made off. This includes clones. I had to fight off 20 of me! A human contestant named Keith saved me- But I didn't see what he did exactly. The Terrabeing had me locked up in a cage of codes.....That would be all

well well well, Zelgius was useful. He got himself into trouble, got busted out of it, and managed to get him some valuable information. This was working out just fine. Now then, to make the next one.

"Heart, don't be foolish. You are like me, like a god, trapped on earth. But these...deities, they wont give you anything. Will you murder an animal for a lie? Or an innocent woman? Or one of your own kind? For a lie? Together, on a good ritual spot, i can try my hardest to find a link with my Father's Altar, and when i have that link, i can get you back to normal, if you describe at that moment exactly how you were. Trust me in this. I am a being of power"

With that last word, the ground around the two began to shake violently. An aura of Fire emerged around The demon, and with a gesture of his hand, two enormous pillars of lava erupted from the ground. Perfect cones, rising up to the sky without spilling a drop of lava. Aidrail's grin came back, this time wider than ever, showing his fangs. The runes skittered again, Forming an ancient symbol, known only as 'instinct' back home.

Evangeline kept a low profile. Drawing her coat around her muscular frame, she averted the gaze of any man, woman, or creature around, and scoped out the area. It was chaos. She'd never seen anything like that before. Course, she'd only been alive for something like 6 months. And most of that time had been spent undergoing testing, or had been in isolation. But still, she'd never thought she would see anything like this.

She could've entered in to the brawl and shown off, but frankly, right now, she didn't feel like fighting. T'was the problem with the errors. She may not have been able to bear children, but she still could outdo most women with her moodswings. One moment she'd be laughing, the next she'd be crying, and if anyone dared say the wrong thing to her, they'd have a fist to the stomach in less than a second. Still, she meant well, really. She just didn't know how to control herself. It was something she had to learn on her own.

"Well, who've we got here?"

A couple of Koopas, holding hammers, descended on her, sneers on their faces. Evangeline held her head high, her green eyes hardly fearful. Turtles? Really? Sure, that ostrich may have looked dangerous, but turtles?

Oh, that does it, thought Evangeline. She may not have felt like fighting before, but nobody spoke of a woman like that and expected to get away with it.

"You seem to be under the impression that I'll comply, gentlemen..."

It was only a matter of seconds later, and the koopas lay immobilized on the ground, with Evangeline hastily grabbing a couple of hammers and throwing them in to her bag. Added a little weight, but she was kind of stuck with the bag. She didn't like to use weapons, but it never hurt to have some on hand just in case.

Walking through the streets, Evangeline started to recognise some figures. The other tournament contestants. She stayed close to the wall, not wanting to draw attention to herself. If they wanted to talk, fine, but she didn't want to inform everyone of her whereabouts. Though she couldn't help but feel as though she was being watched, and Evangeline hated that. She'd rather have watched than been watched. Things weren't right here, and Evangeline didn't understand what was going on. She wasn't exactly the brightest girl around. Not stupid, but not hyper-intelligent. Still, she knew that things here were well beyond her control, and she could accept that she was out of her depth and perhaps even poorly matched against some of the other contestants.

Heart watched the lava pillars with mild interest. Huh, the creature knows Lava Plume. There was certainly more to this Aidrail fellow than met the eye. Perhaps there was an ounce of truth in what he spoke.

"In my world humans make my kind show off their attacks in contests for entertainment. I think you'd do well in that." Heart laughed "Very well, Aidrail. If you can get me back to my true form I'll agree to your alliance. When the time comes I'll be there to aid you. Until then, let us look after our own survival."

The smile crept back onto Aidrail's face, underlit by the molten columns that slowly slid back into the cracked earth. Flecks of lava had ignited the rubbish around them, smouldering in the gutters.

Aidrail slunk back into the shadows as Heart turned and walked into the fire light. The offer troubled him. Pokémon did not have demons in their mythologies, but from his time being worshipped in his Sacred Tower he knew that humans were afraid of them. And anything that the destructive, selfish humans saw as evil was something to be wary of. But if he could offer his true form back...

As he walked onto the main streets he heard the sounds of panic behind him as the homeless discovered the impromptu caldera in the alley. He ignored them. Right now there was someone in particular he wanted to meet: the strange creature Zelgius. Was he an abused animal as claimed, or some bizarre Pokémon? In any case, they had a common cause; both of them had been mistreated by man. And birds of a feather flocked together, after all.

Suddenly he paused, hairs on his nape rising. Arceus, that was a creepy sensation. He felt the distinct impression of being watched. He glanced around. There- a girl? He shifted his weight into a fighting stance.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Spoiler:

Ohai Camilla

_________________HG/SS Friends Code: 2364 8721 9695B/W Friends Code: 2193 7770 9554 X/Y Friends Code:1805-2682-3033"Foxes never lose their tricks, do they?" - Quaetman"We'll be going about our business one day and then someone will be like "hm, where's Barda" and Raya will all suspiciously be like "WELL DON'T LOOK AT ME"..." - Rocket Admin CamillaKing Avalanche:

Evangeline's eyes widened. There were two options. Pretend she didn't hear and retreat, or face things. As Evangeline was no coward, it was better to come in to the light. Even if this Heart...being was one of those that Evangeline thought she may have been poorly matched against. He seemed to hold powers that were far beyond her comprehension, and Evangeline didn't like to fight things she didn't understand. It wasn't a particuarly logical way to go about things, that was for sure.

Evangeline stepped forward, a hand on her bag. Again, while she preferred close combat, there was nothing wrong with projectiles incase things went wrong. There was defiance evident on her face - her expression remained stony, and her eyes gave away nothing. Though she may have feared this particular being, she let nothing of the sort show. Weakness. Evangeline hated being weak, which is why she drove herself so hard to be the strongest woman alive.

"You are Heart, yes?" she asked, though she knew very well who he was. "I don't want any trouble." She knew that they'd have to fight, eventually, but it was best to play it safe, for now. "Have you any idea why we have been called here?"

As Aidrail walked away, the runes formed "the hunt". It was time to find some souls. The more the merrier, and it would boost his magic significantly. Strong souls were better, and these common figures were weak. He would need to find a hero, or a monster. As he walked, he could hear a faint sound, Heart's shouting. He could take care of himself, he was a god, was he not? And if he died, well thats one less thing for him to do. Aidrail didn't know if he could get Heart his body back. Sure he had power, if he had Father's Altar with him, he could create a Maleficum and perform magical wonders, but this was something else.

As he thought of this, Aidrail turned a corner, only to discover a massive brawl going on under the watchful eye of a....giant octopus? What in the name of the 15 is going on in this world?!? Well, this spot would be perfect to test Ritual circles in this world. Aidrail summoned Ti'alin and placed the blade side on the ground. In a calm pace he walked around a large brawl going on between the turtle things and the people known as Toads. Some noticed him, but they had bigger fish to fry, or so they thought. A moderately large circle emerged from the lines Aidrail drew, blood red in color. Aidrail crossed the border into the circle and spoke words noone could understand"Bij de machten van de 15, en de vader van Waarheid, Salvator, sluit ik deze cirkel, een teken van mijn macht!*"

With those words, the boundaries of the circle became solid. The brawlers knew something was wrong, so they tried to escape it, but to no avail. The circle was closed, and they were trapped. Enraged, one of the koopas lunged at Aidrail"you Bastard, i'll kill you!"With a gesture of his hand, The koopa was incinerated by a pillar of flames. Laughing, Aidrail opened the Codex, Releasing the voices of tormented souls and transforming him. His skin turned red, his spikes and horns retreated, the rune pattern changed into symbols with no meaning, large claws and fangs came forth, and he grew in size. Outside the circle the brawl stopped, people were awestruck by the laughing creature in the circle. With waves of his arms, the people inside the circle were struck by foul magic, corrupting their very being and sucking out their souls, into the Codex. The cries could be heard from miles away.

After the circle was empty, save for Aidrail, wich didn't took very long, Aidrail stopped laughing, walked to the center of the circle and concentrated on his magic. Chanting words of power, the lines of the circle turned green, opening it, and lifting it slightly above the ground. Aidrail stepped forward, and with each step, the circle moved with him. He grinned. The brawlers now scattered in fear, running away, but some spots on the field turned into sticky substances, rendering the trapped people unable to run. Aidrail continued his rampage on the field, placing the circle on the ground every now and then to retrieve the souls in that area. He looked up, onto the octopus, who had his own little rampage going on. Smiling like a beast, Aidrail lifted both his hands up to him, Shouting a Demonic word. From his hands erupted a black beam, piercing the octopus and destroying it. That was the power he had when he used his Codex.

"Now then...Who to murder next?!"

Spoiler:

*By the Powers of the 15 and the Father of Truth, Salvator, I close this circle, A sign of my Power!*This was a little rampage i felt like making, any one can come and view it, if they'd like. Also, i'll post a picture of the look i have when i use the Codex in a bit.

Zero stood alone on the dark streets, in a state of in-between. Much remained garbled, incongruous nonsense, but the surroundings, themselves melded out of the uncorroborated void of color, were within comprehension, had Zero been able to comprehend. The void of colors was amalgamating gradually into the sprawl of streets and surfaces that was the Kingdom. The disorder was resolving into order. From entropy arose law; from nothing, something. Yet some dissonance remained. The Kingdom was not a Kingdom, yet the void was not wholly a void. It was not nonsensical flowing light and color that dominated Zero's world, nor was it the dark streets of the fallen world that was the Mushroom Kingdom. Across the city-void one thing was unanimous, omnipresent: Chaos. The chaotic nonsense of the meaningless colors was resolving merely into the chaotic violence of the apparently meaningless brawl.

'Toadies' and shelled creatures ran about, engaging in vividly stark combat, their movements burning themselves through the remaining disorder and into Zero's lack of mind. However, most of the combat was overlooked in favor of the scuffle happening before it. Two shelled beings, wielding crowbars as before, seemed to be backing a lone toadie, attempting to block with a damaged blade of his own, into a corner. Yet Zero's observations were cut short at the toadie's attempt to block the slashes thrown at him when a voice called out from a nearby alley.

The nonentity that is Zero lacks thought; there is no consciousness in the mind of a blank slate. The words of Sirria seemed to gain its attention almost instantly, sensible sounds through a nonsense of clashing metal and shrill cries.

"Looking to allow me to finish what I'd started little one?"

Zero turned its head toward the adjacent abyss and witnessed the grinning Sirria. The powerful, muscular being with the indistinguishable arm of haphazard motion was still for a moment. As Zero remained unspoken, Sirria stepped forward, drawing a handheld strip of corrugated steel. Lightning struck, the illumination reflecting off the metal shaft, at odd angles, brightening for a brief instant Sirria's dark, almost sadistic visage.

"Too afraid to move?" Sirria spoke, speeding up into a full-on dash towards the unmoving Neil, who stood holding his sword and another strange handheld metal object, "Too afraid to speak?"

Neil didn't move, and Sirria lowered his sword, dashing into a powerful thrust.

"Then DIE!"

DIE.

Death.

Death is pain. Pain is death.

Pain is death, death is irrevocable.

Zero swung the metal pipe down, imitating the toad's parrying motion. Sirria's thrusting jab was turned aside. An instant later, Zero's pipe swung about, catching Sirria in the shoulder. Fortunately the momentum of the mercenary's thrust was too much for the jagged end to allow him to suffer the same fate as the drunken toad, but the impact was jarring. Sirria recoiled, rolling from the impact and righting himself, and growled, this time approaching with a horizontal sweep as his foe went in for a diagonal slice. The two blades collided.

The human entity slashed once more, this time from above, as Zero, in perfect imitation, swept his pipe horizontally. Again the real blade collided with the illusory, and Sirria's was turned aside. Sirria responded with two flowing moves, the first an uppercut that Zero parried as per earlier, and the second a spinning slash catching the nonentity on the shoulder. The nonentity paused a moment as lightning once more swept through Zero's existence, pain permeating the void that was also a city. Zero's fist, revolver still contained, flashed forward, and collided with the mercenary's chest. The blow was uneven, having been replicated from naught but a drunk, but still carried an impact, and Sirria was knocked backwards.

The Lycan was buffeted, perplexed, but uninjured. Sirria growled. Neil was showing no true skill, but what an annoyance! He was nothing more than an obstacle to be torn down, an insect to be squashed, and wasn't about to escape him. With any luck he could help speed this ungodly tournament along. Kill the bastard, move on to the next round, rinse and repeat. His arm, fueled by his anger, began to glow with an azure aura, and his blade lit up with intensity. Crying out incomprehensibly, Sirria leapt forward, the frenzy of hacking blows he rained towards his target backed by mystic energy.

The nonentity backed away, instinctively avoiding its foe's attempt to inflict pain, slashing and learning, brushing its foe's blade aside and accumulating knowledge. Several times its foe's attacks loosely connected, albeit only as mere scratches. Yet within moments the being that was nothing and everything matched Sirria blow for blow. The cavalcade of strikes ended, and Sirria backed up. Zero stood dispassionate, unmoving, its clothes singed by the arcane fire Sirria projected, torn in several places by the being's strikes, but all of which amounted to mere flesh wounds.

Sirria stood, grinning ferally, with a single shallow cut on the cheek from where Neil's blade had apparently grazed him. He was surprised the attack did as little damage. Moreover, it seemed that Neil's sword was oddly weighted, and moved far slower than its initial appearance. Sirria could use this to his advantage. The swordplay was on his side, as was the magic, the likes of which Neil had yet to exhibit. Sirria raised his runic arm, pointing the now brilliantly-glowing Desparatum towards his foe as magic coalesced within him.

Zero stood unmoving in the void. The sudden suffusion of light and color enveloping the nonentity's target caused the being's meaning to become muddled. Sirria was hardly discernible from the cityvoid. Zero's instinct told it both to defend itself and to halt. Thus it was kept in a loop of contradiction.

Desparatum began to emit an aura of pure energy, and Neil simply stood, dumbfounded. Had his foe surrendered? Sirria's grin widened. This would be all too easy.

In an instant, everything changed. An unspoken magic whispered to the two combatants from across the void, a cacophony of voices screaming away all that they were, their beings stripped from them as though by the touch of a vengeful deity, the very sound of the rending of the connection between spirit and vessel, as the quintessential existence of dozens was stripped away and shredded.

For Sirria, it was too much. His magic left him, the blue aura vanishing as he fell to the ground, eyes closed, cringing in pain, the projections of horror coupling with the aftermath of Zelgius' mindblast and leaving him temporarily incapacitated.

The mindless nonentity, however, was unaffected. Zero, in the form of Sirria now, its target seemingly forgotten though it has not the ability to forget, turned down a side street, headed unwittingly but inexorably towards the distant white tower.

Spoiler:

Note the word distant. Zero won't be arriving for a while, and I intend to give the decreasingly blank slate a number of encounters on the way to educate it a bit. The main point of that was to get him away from the incapacitated Sirria. Also, to clear one thing up, Sirria sees Zero's broken pipe as a sword. The shapeshifting will transform a held item, if at least similar shape, into a weapon/item held by the person Zero transforms into, though only illusory in nature-The pipe he holds now looks like a Neil's sword to all observers but still has the weight and properties of the pipe itself.

A frightend feeling crept over Zelgius. Those voices.....that agony.....He couldn't ban them out of his head.

Aidrail!" Zelgius thought to himself. "He must have opened that terrible book of his!". The voices, the thoughts and the pain that came rushing in his head made him nauseus and dizzy. Afraid of losing his balance, Zelgius hopped down on the streets, where he was much more vulnerable, but also less likely to fall painfully should he lose his balance. The lack of humans in this world was a plus, though he still stood out as a freak of nature in the middle of these chaotic, enraged streets.

Almost automatically, Zelgius activated his warmth seeking system to scan his surroundings. A lot of warmth seemed to get.....absorbed near the white tower. He could tell that was were the voices of agony were comming from. No doubt Aidrail was creating havoc there, killing whoever he'd please. Zelgius realised now he would have indeed been killed, had he not accepted the demon's offer. He leaned his body against the wall to stay in balance and tried to walk in the opposite direction of the white tower, hoping Aidrail would close his book soon.

"Lets see.....warmth signatures of turtles....of..mushrooms? and........ARGH!" Zelgius thought in frustration. Heart was nearby. Whatever he was, or what he was doing, he obscured the area Zelgius wanted to go to in a attempt to avoid Aidrail.

"Ugh......risk getting discovered on the streets, or risk falling from the rooftops......." Zelgius sat down in a dark alley, hoping people would walk past him, and tried to search past the screams of agony, hoping to find out where the other contestants were, and exactly how close Heart was getting.

I think I'm going to drop those two swords. They were a stupid idea anyway. Heart just has talons instead.

Also Ansem, is the language of demons Dutch?

The girl came forward, which surprised Heart. He had expected her to make a bolt for it, or at least panic and attack him. She didn't seem the least bit scared...that or she was superb at hiding it.

"You are Heart, yes? I don't want any trouble."

That statement almost made him laugh. What had the judges said about the contest? Once someone died the next round began. How easy it would be to kill the girl now, burn her alive and get one step closer to going home. But no, it wasn't in his nature. He had no qualms about killing for food, or killing in self-defence, but maliciously doing so for his own personal gain? No, he'd never stoop so low. There was a reason he'd spent centuries desperately searching for a peaceful land in which to roost. He wasn't going to betray his own ideals so easily.

"Have you any idea why we have been called here?"

Showing no fear. He strangely liked that. "No. I was flying over the mountains when I was struck down. As far as I know this could be inside a Pokeball or Arceus' test. I'm willing to believe there's something beyond creation controlling all of this. The idea of others using us for sport..." he shook his head, dismissing the thought "And what about you?"

This girl intrigued him. She may have appeared harmless, but there must be something special about her. Why else would she be here? And that was just like humans, hiding their true selves. Could he even trust a word that came out of her mouth?

_________________HG/SS Friends Code: 2364 8721 9695B/W Friends Code: 2193 7770 9554 X/Y Friends Code:1805-2682-3033"Foxes never lose their tricks, do they?" - Quaetman"We'll be going about our business one day and then someone will be like "hm, where's Barda" and Raya will all suspiciously be like "WELL DON'T LOOK AT ME"..." - Rocket Admin CamillaKing Avalanche:

why yes. so deaf people and ostriches can uunderstand demon language. Why, does that not make sense to you?

Spoiler:

It just amuses me for some reason. But now I have the image of Aidrail wearing clogs, smoking weed and getting chicks, goddammit.

_________________HG/SS Friends Code: 2364 8721 9695B/W Friends Code: 2193 7770 9554 X/Y Friends Code:1805-2682-3033"Foxes never lose their tricks, do they?" - Quaetman"We'll be going about our business one day and then someone will be like "hm, where's Barda" and Raya will all suspiciously be like "WELL DON'T LOOK AT ME"..." - Rocket Admin CamillaKing Avalanche:

With the Illogical loss to virus 09, Keith. The Terrabeing was failing to comprehend how it could be chased off by a common run of the mil virus that he deletes by the dozen daily back at it's own world. Still standing right out in the middle of the road it started to code another program that will delete the viruses."Error.....Error.......Error

Mission:Failure

Calculations:100% wrong

Threat level (virus 09 - Keith): very high

Recalculating plan: Part 1:Scout out Keith with creations Part 2:Go where Virus 09 dose not Part 3: Wait for deletion of Virus 09 by other viruses

Copy:......

Create: Bats(10)

Order:Seek out Virus 09 (Keith) and keep a eye on him when you find him. If you see me when watching Keith come to me and report he is in the area."

With the order given the bats all fly off in separate directions. The Terrabeing. planing to find a Virus other then 09 with his newly made scouts. Starts moving at a rather fast speed down the street in search of a weaker Virus.

Neil was looking down the alleyways for either Evangeline, Keith, or Takuma. This was going badly, everyone seemed to be moving or hiding or something. Was it any wonder this round was going on for so long? Nobody could find anyone else in this maze! It would take weeks to find everyone and convince them, not to mention the distinct possibility of being attacked again. Maybe if everyone formed a group they would be able to intimidate whoever wanted to keep fighting into submission. Of course, there were about a thousand things wrong with that plan, but it still beat the whole "murder-'till-I-let-you-leave" scenario they were stuck in.

Come to think of it, what was the deal with this Minister guy? If he abducts people from different worlds and forces them to fight each other, why on earth would he be held to his word? He might just make the winner of this game play against a new group, or maybe just kill him on the spot for the fun of it. Actually, he could probably kill us all right now. If he can teleport us into different worlds, why not into a sun? Or a black hole? Geez, that's a disturbing train of thought.

Turning a corner, Neil almost stepped on the robotic leg of an ostrich. "Oh hey! You're that pshycic ostrich. Zelgia right? Look, I wanted to talk to you about something..."

Zelgius stood swiftly, the gears in his legs whirring sharply as he did so. Listen Human, today's been bad enough. Just go on your way and I might not destroy you. And the name's Zelgius!

Neil was a bit scared now (Those robot legs looked mighty powerful) but he was determined to have his say. "I appreciate that things haven't gone so well, I don't think any of us are really happy to be forced into this competition, but I do need to talk to you. I don't think we need to fight, I think we could stay here. This place isn't so bad, and as far as I can tell the only way to leave is for one of us to die. If we refuse to kill each other we stay here until one of us dies from something else. then we do the same things in the next place. This 'game' doesn't need to be played."

Stay here? I was fine with where I was! If I can I'd like to return. So some humans, and other things, die for that to happen. It's not my fault but that's the way things are. And if you don't go now I think the next round might start soon.

"Ok, ok, I'm going. Just think about what I said. Fighting isn't the only option we have here."

Neil backed out of the alley. Zelgius hadn't agreed exactly, but he also hadn't freaked out and attacked either. Ugh, he still falls under the "maybe" section. But if I can get some more people over to my way of thinking, that maybe might become a bit more tilted towards a Yes. And I've only got 8 more to go. Fun times.